


Argonaut Atalanta

by deepestfathoms



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: Blood and Injury, Day At The Beach, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mama Katherine Howard, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Near Drowning, Swimming, not Sophie or Aimie, so it's Jodie!Howard, this is the tour!verse btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:53:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25068718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestfathoms/pseuds/deepestfathoms
Summary: The tour!verse gang goes to the beach!
Relationships: Katherine Howard & Bessie (Six)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Argonaut Atalanta

A wave roared into the beach and crashed around Howard’s feet. Her toes sank into the wet sand. Her pink and dirty blonde hair billowed in the wind.

She couldn’t really remember whose idea it had been, but someone had decided they were going to spend the week away at a rented beach house. Not that she was complaining. It felt nice to finally get out of the cities and get away from performing.

Suddenly, there was a blur of aquamarine to her left- Maggie crashed into the water a moment later. Howard watched her flounder around in the small, but powerful waves in amusement for a moment before she managed to roll over and get back to her feet. She threw her arms up with a triumphant yell before stomping further into the ocean to go swim. Anne and Maria soon joined her, while the others finished setting up.

“Alright, kids,” Aragon said, flipping on her sunglasses. “Do not bother me for the next four hours. There will be hell to pay if you do. Toodles!” She waved and then loped over to a beach chair, which she promptly lounges her elegant body on. If she was trying to show off her toned stomach and muscles arms in her golden bikini, then it was definitely working.

“Do you have mommy issues?” Cleves strangely asked Joan, who had been caught staring at the queen. “Because isn’t Catalina like your—”

“Shut up! Shut up!” Joan cried. Aragon lifts her sunglasses to peer over at her when she yelled, but resumed sunbathing when she was sure the music director was okay.

Howard shook her head before looking around curiously. It only took her a moment to find who she was looking for.

“There’s my sweet girl,” She cooed, walking over to Bessie, who had been rooting around through the fluffy white sand.

Bessie looked up at her and grinned brightly. She, like Joan, didn’t have a bathing suit showing, instead donning a white sundress. Although Joan was wearing swim trunks and a rash guard because she would fry in the sun. But Howard could assume why Bessie wasn’t taking off her covering.

“Found anything?” Howard asked, crouching down next to her.

“Not yet,” Bessie shook her head. “But we just got here! So I’m sure I will soon!”

Howard ruffled her hair, which was dyed pink at the tips (she had wanted to match with her mother), affectionately.

“Wanna go in the water?” She asked. “Or do you want to keep digging?”

Bessie perked up. “Let’s go in the water!”

Howard laughed and helped the girl to her feet. They both snagged goggles from the beach bag before venturing into the cool water.

“This is freedom, Bessie,” Howard said, taking in a deep breath.

“Freedom smells a lot like fish.” Bessie observed, and Howard splashed her playfully.

They both walked until they were in stomach-deep water. Well, stomach-deep for Howard, closer to her shoulders for Bessie. Still, the shorter girl seemed content as she put her goggles on and then disappeared under the surface. Howard watched her swim down with a loving smile before joining her.

Swimming was a tad difficult to say the least. The current kept trying to shove her back up to the beach and then yank her out again, turning her body into the rope used in a game of aquatic tug-o-war. Bessie, however, didn’t seem phased, as she pulled herself through the water to look at the sea floor. She grabbed at handfuls of sand for grip, but the ground was far too loose to hang onto, and she was left flapping her hands awkwardly as she tried to stand at the ground. Howard laughed as she watched this, flurry of bubbles exploding from her lips, and Bessie stuck her tongue out at her—only to remember she was in saltwater.

“Silly girl,” Howard chuckled when they both resurfaced. Bessie was still spitting and sputtering. “You’re such a good swimmer! Like a little bleached frog.”

Bessie’s face flushed red and she laughed awkwardly, but Howard can tell that comment made her uncomfortable. She could see her arms snake around her stomach in the water, and her theory of why she kept the sun dress on was suddenly proven.

“Hey, hey,” Howard said quickly. “I’m sorry. That was the wrong thing to say. I just meant you were swimming like a frog. You know—they do that kicking thing with their legs. That’s what you were doing.”

That just made Bessie blush harder and she sunk below the water without a word. Bubbles burst on the surface as she sank. And then she’s careening right into Howard’s legs like a cannonball when a vicious current knocked her forward.

“Sorry!” Bessie cried when she came back up. “I’m so sorry, Kat, I didn’t-“

“Shh,” Howard cupped Bessie’s wet cheeks after regaining her balance. “What did I tell you about apologizing for things you didn’t cause?”

“Don’t do it…” Bessie’s shoulders hunched. “Sorry. Argh! Dang it!”

Howard chuckled lightly. She leaned forward and kissed the girl’s forward, then immediately began spitting out the salt that brushed her lips.

“Ew.” She said in distaste. “Anyway, we’ll still work on that. Now…think you can find me a nice shell?”

Bessie lit up. “I’ll find the prettiest one!”

With an excited giggle, she disappears under the surface like an eager dolphin. Howard watched her go with a loving shake of her head, then turned around to observe what everyone else was doing.

Aragon was still lounging on her beach throne, although she was in a different position. The closest person to her was Joan, who sat under an umbrella and was simultaneously reading and drawing. Cathy and Jane were sitting on the bay, letting the tide lick hungrily at their legs as they drizzled mud on their thighs and knees over mild conversation. Maria and Cleves were playing with a volleyball in the shallows, while Anne and Maggie were somewhere further out. Howard thought she saw a flash of her cousin’s emerald green bathing suit a few meters away. Then, there was her wading in the water and her precious Bessie exploring the depths below her.

Where Bessie was, the water was much warmer and bursting with aquatic life. Plain sandy plateaus turned into a petrified forest of pale pink and washed out orange coral. Bessie stared at the underwater jungle with wide eyes before getting another breath of air and paddling over excitedly.

There were so many shells!

She dug her hands into the sand as best as she could after deciding that grabbing onto the coral wouldn’t be the best idea. She gawked at all the shells around her and grabbed a particularly pretty white and grey one. She turned it over and was immediately met by a grumpy hermit crab. It flailed its little legs and pinched its claws in the air angrily until she put it down. The tide captured it almost instantly and Bessie watched it bounce around the sea floor until rolling to a halt a few feet behind her. She giggled, then moved on.

After a bit of searching (with two trips back to the surface for air), she spotted a long, brown and pink-white shell with a pointing end. She picked it up and made sure there was no residence inside before darting back to Howard.

“Oh!” Howard yelped when Bessie suddenly popped up in front of her. “You startled me, baby.”

Bessie giggled, then proudly held up the shell she had found. Howard gave an impressed coo and plucked it up from her palm.

“Pretty?” Bessie asked hopefully.

“Very pretty.” Howard confirmed, smiling at her.

“Yay!” Bessie cheered. “I’m really glad! There’s a lot more over— EEP!!”

The girl suddenly leapt into Howard’s arms, wrapping all her limbs around the woman to cling onto her like a frightened koala. She looked fearfully over her shoulder to peer into the water.

“Something touched my foot!” She cried.

Howard gasped. “How dreadful! I’ll make sure to squash it to tiny pieces so it’ll never do such an evil thing to my princess ever again!”

“Mum,” Bessie groaned, burying her nose against Howard’s wet neck. She giggled when she was given a quick peck on her salty cheek.

“Look at you,” Howard said, bouncing the bassist in her arms. “Goodness, you’re so cute.”

Bessie made a flustered noise and pressed her face further into Howard’s neck. She was lucky the queen didn’t mind her throat being touched or else she surely would have been shoved off.

“What? I never had a daughter, darling. I’m going to gush over you. You know that.” Howard chuckled. “I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Bessie said back. She peeled away from Howard after a moment, although she felt colder when not in the queen’s arms. She felt like she fit perfectly in them.

They began the short trek back to the beach after that. Howard retired to a towel to tan on, so Bessie bounded off down the shoreline so she could find some more things.

She passed by Joan, who was sculpting a very intricate sandcastle and didn’t seem to be aware that her arms and legs were baking in the sun. Bessie winced at the alarming shade of red the skin has already turned to.

Further down the beach, quite a ways away from the little campsite, Bessie found that the sandy bay turned into a rocky shoreline that was dotted with colorful tide pools. Pale pink starfish clung to the edges of the dugouts while schools of bright yellow and orange fish spiral through the enclosure. White and grey oysters and clams sat lazily at the bottoms in the grains of sand.

Bessie stepped carefully over the pools to get to the edge of the shore. The waves were much stronger there, crashing heavily against the sides of the rocks and sending a spray of white foam splattering through the air. The water cascaded over her feet, churning around her ankles, then sucked back jarringly. Bessie stumbled at the force, then fell.

The riptide seized her. She’s pulled into its raging body and smothered with its mass. She struggled when the shock wore off, but something caught her in foot and anchored her back down. Something sharp and pointy, which elicits a despaired wail before salty water rushes down her throat and clogs every passageway.

—

Howard jolted upwards on her towel. She looked around, then shot to her feet and briskly walked down the beach. Uneasy was prickling through her and she wasn’t sure why. She felt way too restless to just lay in the sand and try to tan.

Something was wrong.

Something was wrong; because she soon spotted a figure convulsing under the water further down the beach.

Bessie.

Her daughter.

Howard broke out into a sprint, adrenaline now pumping through her veins. She dove into the water and swam over to where Bessie was struggling. Flailing limbs whacked Howard several times in the face, and as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get the gel to calm down. She just kept writhing in the angry tide.

Clouds of murky red were billowing around her. Blood. She was bleeding.

Howard took a breath and submerged herself. Despite the horrible sting of salt water, she opened her eyes and began to search, quickly finding what had her daughter ensnared—a fishing wire.

She pulled, but all that did was cause Bessie to make an agonized cry. Howard tried again to no avail. She swam lower, feeling the undertow claw desperately at her waist and legs, and just decided to bite the wire, cutting it in half with her teeth.

Bessie convulsed as she was freed and Howard grappled her body, swimming her to the surface. A wave instantly crashed over them and slammed them both into the rocky shoreline. Howard took the brunt of it, wincing when her waist hit against the rough stone. She shook the pain off and clambered onto the bay, pulling Bessie up with her. She half carried, half dragged the girl back into the sand then set her down. Immediately, Bessie began to cough, and seawater came flooding out of her mouth.

“Get it all out, sweetheart,” Howard encouraged, helping her roll over. She patted her back. “It’s okay. You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”

“Mama,” Bessie sobbed through another watery cough. Her head flopped back miserably against the sand.

“I’m right here, baby girl.” Howard brushed her soaked cheek. “I’m right here. Mama’s here.”

Her eyes slowly gazed down as Bessie continued to struggle with the water she had swallowed. There was a dark stain in the sand around her legs—blood. There was blood on her left foot, too, from where a fish hook was pierced all the way through her flesh.

“Oh no,” Howard muttered.

“What?” Bessie said fearfully. She tried to get up to look, but Howard eased her back down.

“Don’t look.” Howard said. “Just relax and try to breathe for me. Think you can do that?”

Bessie nodded shakily. She rested her head in the sand, doing her best to maintain her breathing, but it was hard after nearly drowning and with the panic he mother was giving off.

“You’ve got a hook in your foot, baby.” Howard told her grimly. She saw Bessie’s entire body tense up and her heart ached for the girl. “I’m going to pull it out.”

“No, please! No, no no no no no!” Bessie begged. “It’s gonna hurt. P-please don’t!”

“I have to, baby,” Howard frowned. She brushed a clump of pink-white hair out of the girl’s face. “It’s going to hurt worse if I leave it in. I’ll be quick, I promise.”

Bessie just made a miserable whimper and screwed her eyes shut. Howard took that as permission to get to work, so she held Bessie’s left ankle down with one hand and carefully grabbed the hook caught on the side of her foot. The tip had gone all the way through and was now sticking out of the top. Howard winced; Bessie was not going to like this.

The cry Bessie made when Howard slid the hook down was heart wrenching. Her body convulsed with pain and she wailed again as Howard continued to pull the hook out of the hole it created until it was free from her foot. She threw it away and then cradled Bessie’s head in her lap as she wept.

“It’s out, sweetheart. I got it out.” She told her, stroking her hair and face. “You’re okay now. The hook is out.”

Bessie sniffled weakly and opened her teary brown eyes. Howard was smiling down at her warmly.

“I-it is?” She asked. Her foot twitches slightly.

“It is.” Howard assured her. “I promise.”

Bessie took a few deep breaths, then nodded. She squeaked softly when Howard suddenly scooped her up in her arms.

“Wh-what are you doing?” She asked shyly.

“Carrying you,” Howard replied. “You can’t walk in the sand with an open wound!”

“But everyone is gonna laugh at me,” Bessie whined, hiding her face.

“Then I’ll kill them.” Howard simply said and Bessie giggled.

“Thank you for staying with me.” Bessie said softly.

“Of course,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t just leave my princess on the beach with a hook in her foot!”

“I’m glad,” Bessie closed her eyes. The panic of being stuck underwater surfaces for a moment, but then she hears the sound of Howard’s heartbeat and calmed down slightly. “Did you see Joan’s sunburn?”

“Oh yeah. That’s BAD.”


End file.
